Paramount Global is sharpening the ax for a massive wave of staff reductions that could whack as many as 800 jobs, according to a new report.
The debt-laden entertainment giant, which has been put up for sale, will begin slashing hundreds of jobs in February, Deadline reported late Sunday.
The news follows a Wall Street Journal report in December that the company was mulling the potential elimination of more than 1,000 jobs in early 2024 to trim costs.
A spokesman for Paramount did not return requests for comment.
Shares of Paramount — which includes CBS, Hollywood studio Paramount, Showtime and MTV –rose roughly 3% to $13.81 in midday trading Monday.
Shari Redstone, the daughter of the late media mogul Sumner Redstone, owns the majority of voting shares in Paramount through her company, National Amusements.
She is also fielding offers for National Amusements as she faces a March deadline for a $37.5 million payment on a $175 million loan from Wells Fargo, The Post recently reported.
Reining in costs across the company could entice potential buyers. Deadline reported that the wave of cuts are expected to take place around Feb. 13, but impacted employees may be asked to leaver sooner after they are notified.
Despite sale rumors, Paramount isn’t the only media company to undergo layoffs in recent weeks. NBCUniversal cut between 50 to 100 employees earlier this month, and Disney’s Pixar animation studio is bracing for imminent layoffs, that could result in as many as 300 job cuts.
Paramount, which was formed when Viacom and CBS reunited in 2019, has faced challenges related to cord-cutting, a weak advertising market, its loss-producing streaming service Paramount+ and volatility in the movie business.
Paramount’s stock is now worth less than half of what it was when the merger closed.
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